An Unusual Day

Today's Leap Day... you know, the day that only comes around every four years. February 29th! Here's my first dedicated blog to Leap Day:

NERDY STUFF - A solar year is almost 6 hours longer than 365 days. Or 365.25 for the math people.... well actually it's 365.2425 according to the "experts" (you can think of it as 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds. How do they know this? They put a flag in space and wait to see how long it takes the earth to come back to that flag! After 365 days, we're still not quite back to the flag so they realized that there's an extra ~6 hours till we got back to that start. If you think that's an archaic way of doing the calculation, think of the guy that sits around waiting to see the flag again! Hopefully a comet hasn't hit the flag and we have to start all over! What I found interesting, is since it isn't exactly 6 hours, to make up for it: "days that are evenly divisible by 100 are NOT leap years, UNLESS they are also divisible by 400". So yeah, 2000 was a leap year - 2100 (for those of us still around) will not be a leap year.

If you need an algorithm to figure this out:

if year modulo 400 is 0 then leap
else if year modulo 100 is 0 then no_leap
else if year modulo 4 is 0 then leap
else no_leap

As for my personal feelings on Leap Day? I really don't like it... and it's all because those of us who work and are salaried - the corporate sector gets a "free day" from us. We don't get anything extra for working today and the business gets an extra day this quarter to work on revenue stuff. Interesting how this day comes in to play from a corporate standpoint.

Of course everyone wonders about kids being born on Leap Day - Rossini (composer who's music was used in a lot of Bugs Bunny Cartoons) was born on Leap Day (1792). As was Tony Robbins (the motivational guy)! Don't forget Ja Rule (1976) who technically is celebrating his 8th birthday! The first Playboy Club was opened in Chicago (1960) on this day! Sounds like a good holiday to me!

And for those who pay attention to the world of music - remember that Frederick from Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance was born on a leap year. This was critical to the plot as he was NOT allowed to leave his servitude to the Pirate King since he was technically only 5 (not 21). Nevermind the fact that he was supposed to be a PILOT, not a PIRATE. Guess you have to know the musical.....

Anyway - so HAPPY LEAP DAY! Hope you're celebrating in style.

Haiku of the Day
"Once every 4 years"
A Cyclones winning season???
NO!! An extra day

Entertainment of the Day - American Idol down to 8 and 8.... Not really upset at the people going home last night, but you still can see how the "Wheeler" theory holds true - different outcome week to week if you vote for the person that should go home! There is definitely a "final 4" group forming, see who the remaining 4 to go home next week are.

Weblink of the Day - A colored ball game.... click on the like colors, try not to have any leftovers. Then lose interest around level 8 or so.

All The Good Gossip Here

We could be a week away from a 2 person race for the White House. That means for the next 8 months, the amount of commercials will only increase! Your life will become EVEN MORE inundated with 2008 election news/slogans/posters/calls/mailings/advertisements..... just think of the fun it will be! yuck. Big

Apologies to my BFF Jill who didn't find yesterday's blog nearly as funny as others....

Paris Hilton might be sister in law with BFF Nicole Richie. The best part is the caption for the picture:

Nicole Richie, left, and Paris Hilton may soon be more than BFFs. Hilton is reportedly sporting a ring given to her by new boyfriend Benji Madden, twin brother of Richie’s baby daddy.

Did you follow that? Guess I just find humor in the growing norm in Hollywood of the term "Baby Daddy"!

If you don't care for snakes, skip this next link - Headline reads: "Python stalks, eats family dog in front of kids. Horrified children watch as 16-foot snake swallows their pet whole". Not sure why but I find that somewhat alarming, almost humorous. Guess I have a cartoon image of the situation with a 16-foot snake "stalking" a dog (chihuahua at that).

Anyway - that's it for today.... already way behind at work and still wanted to entertain with what I could this morning.

Backflips Are Dumb

I'm back in Rochester - avoided the Winter weather that is hitting Chicago and Wisconsin yesterday and today! I'm ready for Spring (as I'm sure everyone is). This is one of the few years where we've had snow on the ground since early November (was it earlier?) and it's been pretty solid cold temperatures and snow on at least a weekly basis. Definitely one of the longer Winters in recent history for me.

Catching up.....

• Oscars 2008 is done.... and was pretty uneventful. I am definitely interested in the Oscars every year, but I never see the movies before the awards - so hard to really have favorites, etc. Sarah and I were in agreement that the outfits worn by most of the folks were over the top AWFUL! Some of them need to just go grab something simple and it would be a lot better than the dead bird look that they're trying to pull off. Red Carpet question "where'd you get your tux?" response "Men's Warehouse... it's a rental".
  
• A week away from another big presidential candidate vote.... the attacks are getting bad for the democrats (and already annoying). Hoping that a big day for Obama will shoot him out to be the clear frontrunner and we can get this thing over with sooner rather than later.
• I'm starting to watch more and more college hoops (now that Football season is long gone) to prepare myself for March Madness. There are a lot of good teams out there right now. I'm still in the mindset that Kansas is a great team. Texas also looks pretty good. Iowa State will need a huge showing in the Big 12 Tournament to make the big dance in March. Probably not possible, but we can still finish with a winning record for the year (after many predictions nationally of finishing last in the Big12).
• Tiger Woods continues to get better and better. How is that possible? At some point he's going to own the moon... just because he can.
• Big concert this weekend! Kahn and I are headed to Jeremy Camp/TobyMac concert - BOOMIN' BEYOND MEASURE TOUR - this weekend at the Target Center. Good times and some great loud music!!
• Anyone else (besides Sarah and I) watch The Moment of Truth last night? It had the woman who basically admitted that she wanted to be married to an ex-boyfriend. It's an interesting show that pulls out the worst of humanity (as only Fox can do). This one even had the host (Mark Wahlberg.... not the one of NKOTB fame) giving a warning at the beginning of the show (to add to the drama) that this was the hardest thing he's had to do on TV. I have a feeling last night's show was so over the top that there were a lot of actors/actresses involved. If not, at least she didn't get any money in the end.
  

Why do people watch these degrading shows? It's the same reason people went to watch the Gladiators back in the days of the Romans.... makes you go home at the end of the day feeling better about yourself. Same reason people watch other reality shows (The Bachelor, Joe Millionare, even Real World and the HORRIBLE Girls Next Door). It's human nature to be intrigued of the fall of others.

Anyways - happy Tuesday!

Haiku of the Day
I've NOTHING to hide
Should go on MOMENT OF TRUTH
Not enough drama:(

Entertainment of the Day - Watched The Invasion with Nicole Kidman and new James Bond. It was standard zombie type movie. Interesting Sci-Fiction plot and of course any fans of Nicole Kidman will like her running around the whole movie. The movie wasn't as good as I had hoped, but that's what happens sometimes.

Weblink of the Day - Thanks to Christine for today's page. Interesting experiment with Spiders and common drugs. Pretty funny!

Post Lunar Eclipse Fun

American Idol thoughts - There's still too many people left to really care at this point. There are at least 12 that should be going home this week but the AI mastery of making money will cause it to drag out for another couple of months. The girls might have some better singers than the guys, but I am less annoyed by the guys this year. And Kady Malloy annoyed me the most - catch her pouting on stage when she was getting feedback from the judges?

Sarah and I are on our way to Kentucky tonight (weather pending). Planning on spending the next few days with my brother and his family - with a delayed birthday party for Elliott! Hoping the weather is not as bad as predicted, otherwise could be a long drive....

Couple of funny links to share:

• Remember doing science fairs? Having to make a diorama of some random topic and try to make it neat so people actually cared? Here are some interesting science displays - some are very funny - some should have had more parental supervision. "Plants and Pop" is my personal favorite... gotta love the ones done the morning they are due! Been there, done that!
• Speaking of science project - this illusion is pretty cool. And yes, the engineer in me read the explanation and loved the part about color angle shift (with cool graphs).
• This is an interesting shopping page - unlike one you've ever seen. Ignore the Dutch language (I think that's what is .nl), don't browse the page - just check out the blue glass/cup for a while.
• "Best Facial Hair of Modern Rock"..... title says it all. Definition of "modern rock" is debatable.....

Hope everyone has a good Thursday. I'll try to blog tomorrow while in Kentucky.

Haiku of the Day -
12 girls and 12 boys
only getting rid of four?
can name top 6 now!

Entertainment of the Day - I watched Inside Man which is another cop/detective movie from Denzel Washington. How many of these is he doing now a days? It was an interesting movie with a "surprise" ending... that wasn't so surprising but still was an interesting plot. It's a Spike Lee directed movie so there are definitely some non-traditional director methods used in this movie.

Random Stuff

I watched the Space Shuttle landing this morning on TV.... haven't actually done that in probably 20+ years but it's pretty sweet. Of course the media coverage was more interested in the plans to fire a missile at the satellite that is falling to earth than they were the achievement of the latest space mission. Got to see through a camera on the front of the cockpit, including the heads-up display that helps them land! How come they get a parachute to help them slow down upon landing? And of course the astronauts don't have to worry about transfers to other flights, or sitting on the runway for 40 minutes waiting for a gate to open.... that's the way to fly!

Obama has 2 more victories under his belt after great results in Wisconsin and Hawaii. Texas and Ohio are still the two biggies, but it's obvious that he continues to gain momentum in this thing. Sarah and I watched his speech from Houston last night and I still enjoy hearing his message over and over again with the energy to change the current political mess in our country. That's why he's getting my vote this year. Lots of things to fix in Washington, need someone with the desire to change things.

And in an unusual purchase - Martha Stewart buys Emeril Lagasse's franchise!! I guess it's just like any other corporate merger with Timer/Warner, etc. But still an unusual deal with the visual background everyone has of both Martha and Emeril. Different contrasting styles on TV, but that's not what matters in a purchase like this one. $45 Million+ in cash!! That buys a ton of spices.

I hate commercials, but here's one that made me laugh a lot. I kind of like the Geico commercials that pair up a regular person with a "famous person". The one I just saw was with Peter Frampton as follows:



Pretty good!

And finally - American Idol has started the next round! 5 hours a week for 3 weeks in order to get down to the final 12 candidates. This is the time where you get rid of the wannabe's that stand no chance of a contract. Poor Simon only cares about who's going to win so anyone that obviously can't win gets his wrath.

Jason Kidd to the Mavericks (NBA)? Bad idea... this whole trading to make teams more like All-Star teams and other teams throwing in the towel to get their pay down.... it's annoying. It's the nature of sports right now though.

Lunar Eclipse tonight - anytime between 9 and midnight for the midwest folks. If you can survive the nasty temperatures.

Haiku of the Day -
No Snow, but still cold
Trying to move my way south
Still cold and windy:(

Entertainment of the Day - I watched the rest of The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob... it's not really that good of a movie and once pointed out to me, it does remind me of the rocket movie by Jake Gyllenhaal from a few years ago. Plus Thornton plays the EXACT SAME CHARACTER in every movie. It works for movies like Bad Santa but not as an astronaut. Guess it just wasn't my type of movie.

Weblink of the Day - The top 15 most annoying video game characters. While there were plenty I was not familiar with, I loved the the top 2! I have to agree with the mutual frustration on those two.

Your #1 News Source

Why read other news pages when I have all the things you should care about from around the world... RIGHT HERE!

World News Headlines - Fidel Castro resigned as president in Cuba. Yeah, he's been there for 50 years and yeah, he's still offered a constant frustration or scare to the US in those 50 years. I have a feeling that Castro himself is the reason for the US image of an "Evil Cuba" and a new leader in that country would improve the relationship dramatically. That goes for the US side of the relationship as well! Get leaders that aren't interested in taking over the world and flexing their missile muscle on anyone with a different philosophy than their own. Maybe this will be the chance to open up Havana to the US for travel and visiting (more than it is now).

Politics - Wisconsin and Hawaii add to the Democratic race that's going to go on for a while. We might be doing this for a while. Go Obama Go!

In Hollywood news - Lindsay Lohan poses nude to recreate Marilyn Monroe's shooting with Bert Stern, six weeks before she overdosed. A similar path for Lohan who is in and out of rehab like it's a tanning salon? Possibly.... but the quest for "most tabloid covers" continues as Lohan ups Britney by PURPOSELY posing nude, not just posing for paparazzi getting in and out of cars. Expect Britney to do something psycho to get the attention back on her! Where's Paris lately? Isn't it time for her to demand the media's attention yet again?

Tech news - An admission of defeat by Toshiba as they drop the HD DVD business making way for the Blu-ray technology by Sony as the next-generation afte DVDs. What's this mean for most of us? Now we know what the standard will be for a while as the current trend to get into HDTVs and better means of enjoying your entertainment at home - the consumer industry only has one option, rather than two. I still feel that we're 5+ years away from a "death to DVDs" since most of us continue to buy DVDs without even thinking of converting anytime soon. There was a huge difference between VHS and DVD - thus the strong desire to convert. The difference between Blu-ray and DVDs is nice, but not nearly as significant. We still need to bring back the stickers that say "Be Kind, Please Rewind".

American Idol - Top 12 guys perform tonight, top 12 girls tomorrow night.... 4 go home on Thursday. Yeah, it's the 6 hour Idol week treatment for a while. And anyone else still watching Celebrity Apprentice? No firings this week (I'm not happy about that - get rid of Omarosa already!!! Piers is the best one on there right now and has been all season. She just needs to get off the TV.

Sarah and I hit the Shedd Aquarium yesterday here in Chi-town. Got to see some Dolphins (in a 3 million gallon salt water tank) and the cute beluga whales (including a newborn). Lots and lots of fish - in some impressive displays to keep them in a "natural" habitat despite being halfway around the world from their normal settings. Only bad part was the expensive parking - the normal here in Chicago:(

Have a great Tuesday! For those in Wisconsin, GO VOTE!

Haiku of the Day
Sharks, Dolphins, and Whales
Were much, much cooler than the
Displays with the snakes

Entertainment of the Day - Sarah and I watched Ratatouille yesterday. It's a pretty good Disney/Pixar movie with some great animation. It's neat to compare the evolution of Pixar from Toy Story 1, Monsters Inc., etc. This one doesn't have any really famous voices, but the movie itself was pretty cute. Yes, I know this is 2 days in a row of Disney flicks.... don't get used to it!

Weblink of the Day - New Strong Bad email.... and like the rest of us - we need more Strong Bad in our days!

Happy President's Day

The Windy/Snowy/Rainy city of Chicago!!! Sarah and I had a ton of fun this weekend living the Chicago life!

The Chicago auto-show was wrapping up this weekend, Sarah got us in for some VIP treatment to the show 2 hours before the public was allowed in. We were also at the front of the line for the Jeep offroad ride that they had as a demonstration to their Wrangler's abilities. It included a 45 degree ramp up and then down that we stopped at. That's quite the angle to be sitting in an open jeep, staring at the ground in front of you. Saw the latest models of Porsche, Mini's, Mercedes, the standard GMs/Fords/Chrysler cars, some Lamborghinis.... good stuff!

Went to my 2nd viewing of the U2-3D movie at the Navy Pier IMAX theatre. Still a fun show, and this was a packed showing with some die-hard fans that were hootin' and cheering throughout by the crowd!



NBA All-Star weekend is complete. I was able to watch again this year (thanks to DVR technology) and the slam-dunk contest is definitely improving again. Dwight Howard used some off the wall antics to wow the crowd and win. While his Superman dunk is probably getting the most attention in his win, his first dunk was definitely the best. I realize that the Jordan vs Dominique era will never be replicated, but you do have to give the new era credit for finding new ways of entertaining the crowd without just repeating dunks that have been used in previous years.

Here's a clip of the 1988 finals with Jordan at his best:


And a "ho-hum" Daytona 500 is complete signifying a beginning to the longest season in professional sports! NASCAR seems to have just ended, but now it's back with driver swaps, new "car of today", yet still some drivers who hate each other and make the sport exciting.

As for this week? Another key primary tomorrow with Wisconsin voters turning out in the cold/snow to vote, while the Hawaii voters turn out in the 70 degree weather..... would be a nice place to be right about now.

Anyway - have a great week! Happy Birthday to Claire and my nephew Elliott!

Haiku of the Day
Crazy Cold and Snow
I have had enough this year
Waiting for April

Entertainment of the Day - Sarah and I watched The Game Plan this weekend. It's the newer Disney movie with The Rock (The Great One) who plays a football player discovering he has an 8 year old daughter. The movie was pretty cute and had lots of funny moments. Yeah, it's probably meant for kids, but I got a laugh out of it and enjoyed it. Plus The Rock is a pretty good and versatile actor considering his wrestling background.

Weblink of the Day - Here's a Cannon game that I used to play something similar as a kid on our old Mac SE! Change the angle of projection and the amount of velocity to try to hit the targets.

Catching Up

It's Valentine's Day - and this year that's a good thing! Yeah, funny how different a holiday this is when you're dating a hot chick versus the single life. I'll be seeing my "hot chick" tonight as I drive later today to Chicago and spend a week with her.

American Idol is down to 24. My prediction will be a Chikezie Eze and Syesha Mercado final. Josiah Leming (the guy living in his car) is gone - thought he was extremely suicidal when he was told so long. I did find it interesting that people were upset that their peers were told "no" by the judges. Think about this.... it's an audition and ONLY 12 girls and 12 boys get to move on. So hearing that someone else is a "no" means your odds just improved by 1 person! Unless it's for the opposite gender where it doesn't matter. I'd be sitting in the back smiling when the competition gets cut! The other thought I had... keep track (like counting cards) of the numbers so if there are three people left and only 1 spot, if you're the third to last person, you're cut. If there are 2 spots, you're in. Because there's always only 1 spot for the final 2 males/females left. So yeah, it's a foolproof way to figure out that person's fate. How many people understand this?:) yes - i'm a nerd.

Obama had another big week in the eastern primaries! He's catching the momentum again and hopefully it continues. I hate the over analyzation that is already occuring on the news networks. I've learned to look the day after for results (with at least 99% of the reports in) rather than track it live. The media is pretty funny with the whole thing. They present every option possible and over analyze the entire thing in order to claim that in hindsight, at some point in their rambling they'll be seen as correct. Kind of like the poor guesses from weatherpeople! Where's the 6 inches we were promised? More like 1.5 inches.... now I know how a lot of the women out there feel!

As much as I agree that Congress should have better things to do than interviewing baseball players - I do find the whole thing intriguing and somewhat addictive. I personally am not sure who to believe in the Clemens/McNamee argument. I'm just thankful that a lot of my baseball "heros" are not part of this mess (Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Andre Dawson... yeah, there's a Cub in there from my younger days). Most of the sports have this issue and we've created the culture where athletes have no reason not to try to cheat to get ahead - make more money that way! As for the congressional subcommittee.... I had a good laugh about the McNamee responses when he was called a "drug dealer" by Rep. Shays:

Rep. Christopher Shays calls McNamee a police officer who became a drug dealer. “Mr. McNamee, you are a drug dealer.” (McNamee used to work as a cop in New York.)”That’s your opinion,” McNamee says.

“You were dealing in them, yes?” Shays asks.

“Yes,” McNamee says.

“and they were illegal.” Shays continues.

“Yes.”

Sorry, can't find the video clip of this part yet... but Shay's is right on with his point.

Speaking of cheating and lying in sports. Here's an interesting article (long read) on how one psycho used the sympathy associated with kids with cancer to get his dream fulfilled..... As much as I hate this guy, not sure if he did anything illegal. Yzerman is still the bomb though!!

Haiku of the Day
Doing drugs is bad
Using them to cheat is worse
Stick to Captain/Cokes!!!

Entertainment of the Day - for the AI fans who watched the Hollywood round, hopefully you got as upset and cringed at the number of singers who sang "Everything I do, I do it for fame".... Bryan Adams and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Here's the video for those who want to see the originally crappy version. Good luck getting it out of your head!

Weblink of the Day - and speaking of my past girlfriends.... supposedly Britney is married again (per Mexican law) - good thing I'm over her and onto someone hotter and cooler! And a lot less PSYCHO!!!

And The Winner Is.....

Rough day yesterday - my laptop fan went out (replacement should be here in the next few hours) so I was "unproductive" yesterday. Now being a manager, I know some of you might think I'm "unproductive" every day - this is debatable.

But looking at this past weekend.... big huge wins by Obama in 4 states showing that he continues to gain momentum. A big night tonight with 3 more states adding their say into the candidate race. I saw that Michelle Obama was on Larry King last night - have you seen an interview with her? She's amazing as well and will bring back the idea of a strong 1st Lady in the white house. Sorry, but I don't see much use for the current First Lady. Goes along with the rest of the Presidential Administration that's currently in place.

Iowa State fell a little short against Texas this past weekend in Men's Basketball. I think Texas wasn't prepared for the Hilton Magic that is still lingering. After a decent start to the home games for 2008 (11-2), they have lost the past 2 to those dang Texas teams. A Kansas loss last night to Texas (in Austin) makes me wonder if they really could win the whole thing. Texas did look good though.

Winners of Grammy's announced. Obama won a Grammy even (don't worry - Clinton won one a couple of years ago for his reading on the CD of Peter and the Wolf. I have that CD somewhere and it even has Mikhail Gorbechev on it!) But Amy Weinhouse? Seriously? That was on my list of most annoying songs of the year!! She's so dang weird too - doesn't add to her "likablity" but then again, not sure she cares. The rest of the winners? Who cares - bad year for music in my opinion. No, I didn't watch the performances - thought they were going to do the podium thing again since the writer's strike was still going on. And Herbie Hancock (known for signing the Declaration of Independence) won the Grammy for Album of the Year. I'd like to see a new category "American Idol CD of the year" now that we have 6 seasons of contestents to choose from.....

Yes, the writer's strike is over. What does this mean to me personnally? New episodes of:

• The Office
• My Name is Earl
• Family Guy
• THE Daily Show with John Stewart

All of these have been either lame or non-existant since the strike began in November.

And football has officially completed it's season now that the Pro-Bowl has been played. It would be fun to go to the game in Hawaii some year (hint hint). Peterson (of Vikings fame - GO VIKES) won the MVP and yet another slap to the face of TO (who caught a pass from his "looks like a rat" former best buddy Garcia). I call it Karma. The funniest part of the ProBowl though is watching the extra points. As soon as the ball is snapped, all the linemen just stand up. With the usual laid back mentality of the ProBowl, not worth trying to block an extra point.

Anyway - Valentine's Day in 2 days. I'll be headed to Chicago to see the lovely Sarah!! Get your shopping done yet?

Haiku of the Day
Laptop Addiction!
Like Britney - I need rehab!!
I won't go... go.... go...

Entertainment of the Day - I watched Bobby this past weekend which was an interesting movie. It's about the Bobby Kennedy assassination (5 years or so after JFK's assassination) at the hotel in California. 22 people who all have a different story but are at the hotel during the assassination. This is the one that was written/directed by Emilio Estevez and stars many big names: Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, William Macy, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, and actual footage of Robert F Kennedy. It was actually very intersting and well done. For those of us who struggle with that period of history, doing the research ahead of time is a must so you understand the circumstances of RFK in the political scene of the time. I enjoyed the flick and recommend it to anyone.

Weblink of the Day - Per the suggestion of another Adam.... a Subaru jump. Note that I haven't been able to watch this video yet as it doesn't play in Wincenter;) I'll see it in a few hours!

Public Service Announcement 2

Warning!! BRITNEY IS ON THE LOOSE AGAIN. For anyone in the Southern California area (you know who you are), you may want to call in sick, or take refuge as she's wacked, and yes - driving a car again. On a different note, there is WAY too much money available for paparazzi.... I do think they need to be more strictly punished for causing just as many traffic hazards as anyone out there. Don't have that problem here in Minnesota. Too cold to chase after cars taking pictures (although I admit it happens to me more than I thought it would.... the price of having such a famous and popular blog!)

So where have I been? Well.... not sure if we're celebrating or worried after Super Tuesday. It's funny how CNN has Hilary "winning" 823-741 (2025 delegates needed to win) but MSNBC has Barack "winning" 838-834). Yeah, that's a huge discrepancy but here's an interesting explanation as to why.... good ol' 1970s technology being used for a 2008 election!! I still have HOPE (haha) in Obama and this country! Definitely seeing the momentum growing for his campaign. As for the GOP - looks like McCain is leading the pack by a lot.... interesting to see how the religious right reacts to that since he's not really representative of the conservative republicans that said everyone should be back in 2004 - otherwise we were "anti-Christian" and "pro-terrorists" if we were anything but conservative.

If you haven't seen it yet - the "unsolicited" yet "Official" video in support of Obama titled Yes We Can - by will.i.am (think Black Eyed Peas).... I want "."s in my name.... The.Big.Show is my new name.....



As for what I've done this week.... I had the rare opportunity Tuesday night to go to the Detroit Red Wings vs Minnesota Wild hockey game up in St. Paul! Yeah, I'm a lucky SOB - just have to have the right "connections". So I've been to the Excel Energy Center a bunch of times for concerts, but this is my first hockey game there. AND it was also the first Red Wings game for me.... a big fan! They usually are the hardest tickets in ANY town to find! But I had my jersey on, my hat on.... along with a fair amount of other Detroit fans! It was a little nerve racking, but they pulled it out in Overtime. A goal with 1:20 left to send it into OT and then another goal 1:40 into overtime. I was a little disappointed that the loud ass horn ONLY goes off for home team goals. So I did my best imitation when Detroit scored... just not the same. It's definitely louder in there when the Wild score. Some good hockey and an amazing experience! Here are the game highlights for anyone who's bored (or interested in what horn I'm talking about). 8 straight wins for the Red Wings!!!



Haiku of the Day
"Yes We Can".... catchy!
Hoping more voters join in:
GO OBAMA GO!!

Entertainment of the Day - Video overload for you today.... in honor of Super Tuesday and the continual focus on our next president - don't forget the original Presidents Of The United States Of America!!

• She's Lump, she might be dead......
• Movin' to the country, gonna eat me a lot of Peaches. LOOK-OUT!!!

Ah weren't the 90s fun?

Weblink of the Day - Another good way to waste 4-5 minutes.... Play the online Family Feud. The Lightning round is actually easier than the earlier rounds. Just beat the "average" score to continue after round 4! It's different every time too so play it again... and again... and again!

Happy Super Fat Tuesday

Funny that the biggest day of the voting 2008 is also Fat Tuesday - known for the heavy drinking, beads, and what it takes to get those beads.... hopefully the combination of the two won't distort some people's opportunity to make a difference for our country. GO VOTE if you want to exercise your right. Vote411.org has all the "where do I go" information that you'll need.

That also means that Lent starts tomorrow - what are you giving up for Lent? I haven't thought that far yet but I suppose I will make a plan tonight. Remember that Lent is basically 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays... in case you were having issues with the Math like I was till I researched it). Or 46 days (including Sundays) till Easter. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow - all of my Catholic Friends -> Plan your meat free meals accordingly. No going to Burger King on Fridays (Eddie) and taking a big bite of your hamburger before your wonderful roommate reminds you that you should have ordered Fish. Guess you had to be there.

Party in NYC today - lower Manhattan to be exact! The Giants get their ticker-tape parade that has become standard in New York for all championships. As for creative commercials??? Here's one that made me laugh! And if you were able to catch the link on Amazon to the book "19-0: Historic Season by the Patriots" before they removed the link yesterday - that was pretty funny too.

Final Super bowl thoughts.... a weblink with the "Sleaziest Super Bowl Commercials" that some I'll admit - I'd forgotten about. BTW - here's the "GODADDY.COM" commercial that they referenced in their commercial with Danica (how many of us forgot about that since it was so dumb?). And of course a kick back to the old school Super Bowl Shuffle!

Bobby Knight is done coaching Texas Tech basketball.... good riddance is my thought. I never was a big Bobby fan partially due to his "temper" style of coaching. Yeah, I take the Gen-Y method of inspiring your team rather than scolding them at every chance, but I think you see that more with the newer younger coaches. I respect Knight and what he has done for the sport of college basketball, but I still don't like him. I also don't think anyone will get to 902 wins given the current state of college sports. Too much money, focus, scrutiny over the success of a basketball program. Do you think Coach K would be allowed to stick around at Duke if they had a losing season 2 years in a row?

Anyway - happy Super Fat Tuesday!!

Haiku of the Day
Week till Valentine's
Looking at shovels on sale....
No reason of course!!!

Entertainment of the Day - I watched Viva Las Vegas last night... of course with ELVIS!!!! No, I've never watched the movie before, but it's pretty good. Music includes more than just the Viva Las Vegas song plus some great shots of Fremont Street before they put up the oversized TV screen that most of us are accustomed to seeing on Fremont Street. Few thoughts from watching it:

• 1964 Vegas looks very much different than 2006 Vegas!!
• A 23 year old Ann-Margret was amazingly hot! She was already on that "hot in her day" list after watching her at age 34 in Tommy but she was even better in this one
• Ann-Margret was actually her first name (like "Prince" or "Elvis" or "Bjork" or "Pee-Wee") and she was a red headed Swede..... interesting
• Elvis can act just like he can sing.... he's still the bomb! Even knows how to fly a helicopter!!!

Weblink of the Day - Super Tuesday as explained by your favorite "actresses"....

A Super Day After

And the post-Super Bowl talk continues..... some talk about the game, some about the commercials. Come here and you get BOTH!

Yeah, I was surprised to see the Giants man-handle the Patriots. What happened? I don't think Brady was 100%, Giants played with no external pressure that said they "had to" win, and I think the Giants looked much more prepared for the game.

As for the commercials.... there's a "bracket style" voting scheme from MSNBC where you can watch all the commercials and then rank them. While I always enjoy the humor from Budweiser, thought they came up a little short this year. Bridgestone stepped up with some good humor with the screaming squirrel - but the shock for me was e-Trade and the little baby doing some stocks. The 2nd one (with the creepy clown) got my vote for winner.

Super Tuesday is tomorrow - probably still have 2 candidates for the Dems and probably 3 for the GOP, but at least the candidates will be closer than 10% of the way to having the required number of delegates to get the overall nomination. But seriously - take the time to go and vote if you're in one of the states that's voting (like here in MN). It's fun to be part of the election process since it's one of the few rights we seem to still have that isn't violated (although it's definitely influenced) by the government.

Snow is falling yet again in Rochester.... blame the Groundhog who in Punxsutawney saw his shadow and said "screw you guys, I'm goin home" and 6 more weeks of winter. Not sure what Unadilla Bill decided.... either way, they're more accurate than the current weather people on TV. Talk about getting overpaid!

Anyway - sorry for the late posting today... Happy February!!